In the last article we looked at ways to get our boats heading backwards without offering too much entertainment to the harbour-side gawkers. However, the vast majority of us are going to feel far happier when we’ve got our little ships heading the “right” way once more. This time, as our series on close quarters boat handling under engine continues, the Skipper tackles turning around.

Lunches under-way are always a bit of a conundrum; ideally they need to be hot on a cold day, cold on a hot day, tasty on any day but also hand-held and not too tricky to put together in a galley that persists in moving around. Our Houmous, Halloumi and Chilli Wraps are just the ticket - and can be prepared in advance if you want them cold or slapped together with halloumi hot from the pan if the crew look in need of a handwarmer or two...

Ex-guest and (still) friend of Amelie Rose, John Huber, recounts his experience of joining us for our now infamous (in the Skipper's mind anyway) voyage to the Brest Maritime festival in 2012. The preceeding three days of strong winds and big seas made our blue skies and gentle beam reach down the Chanel du Four all the sweeter it appears, and the run to Douarnenez was the cherry on the cake...

In the last Skills School we discussed ways to extract ourselves from our alongside berth without undue drama. But still we’ve got to work our way out to the fairway buoy before we can stow our fenders with confidence. Continuing our series on handling long-keel boats under engine, let us begin to look at some techniques that will see us out to sea with the minimum of fuss, beginning with that nemesis of all long-keel boat skippers; reversing.

Sustainability has been at the heart of Topsail Adventures since we started the company back in 2006 but as the years have gone by and the climate crisis has deepened, we’ve learned more about what actions we can take in order to further protect our fragile planet. As Natural England and the Environment Agency warn that 2020 is the “last chance” to bring the world together to tackle climate change we have decided to review and re-publish our sustainability policy and seek out suggestions as to how we can do more.

Reading Rebecca Sykes’ article about sailing aboard the Amelie Rose as a woman got the skipper to thinking about inclusivity in general and how important it is to us at Topsail Adventures. It’s our view that we should ensure that the experience of sailing aboard the Amelie Rose is available to everyone and anyone, regardless of their race, age, sexuality, religion, disabilities, or gender identity and expression. With this in mind we have for the first time created and published a specific policy and made some changes to our booking documentation.

Ex-guest and all round good egg Nick Beetham wrote this lovely article for us recapping his time aboard the Amelie Rose on our adventure to the Brest and Douarnenez festivals back in 2016. He really captures all the elements that make this adventure such a bucket-list event and we hope that you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed being there in the first place.

Bookings have been coming in thick and fast this year - so much so that we're already selling out our early season Traditional Tasters. We'd hate for folks to miss out though and so with a bit of schedule jiggling we've managed to find space in our diaries to put on another Traditional Taster Weekend

If there’s one area that seems to give folks more trouble than any other when skippering traditional long keel boats then it’s manoeuvring them in tight spaces. In the first of a series on close-quarters boat handling and mooring techniques, The Skipper looks at the first part of any voyage – the getaway…